ARGUMENT.Virgil discourses further concerning the nature of love. Then a multitude of spirits rush by; two of whom, in van of the rest, record instances of zeal and fervent affection, and another, who was Abbot of San Zeno in Verona, declares himself to Virgil and Dante; and lastly follow other spirits, shouting forth memorable examples of the sin for which they suffer. The Poet, pursuing his meditations, falls into a dreamy slumber.

Note 2. Those men. The great moral philosophers among the heathen. [back]

Note 3. Up the vault. The moon passed with a motion opposite to that of the heavens, through the constellation of the Scorpion, in which the sun is, when to those who are in Rome he appears to set between the isles of Corsica and Sardinia. [back]

Note 4. Andes. Andes, now Pietola, made more famous than Mantua, near which it is situated, by having been the birthplace of Virgil. [back]